ERC Grant Schemes Guide for Applicants for the Advanced Grant 2012 Call

Transcription

1 European Research Council ERC Grant Schemes Guide for Applicants for the Advanced Grant 2012 Call The Guide is published by the ERC Scientific Council on It can also be downloaded from the Research & Innovation Participant Portal on EUROPEAN COMMISSION FP7 Specific Programme IDEAS

2 IMPORTANT NOTICE Following the experience with previous calls, some adjustments and improvements have been introduced to this guide. Notably, changes have been introduced with regard to, I) the application forms on the Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS), II) restrictions on applications and evaluation criteria, III) evaluation criteria and outcome of evaluation, IV) the information to be provided on Security sensitive issues for any proposal and for proposals involving Security issues (see Annex 4). As these adjustments have an impact on the proposal preparation and submission with EPSS, applicants are requested to consult the EPSS website and the Research & Innovation Participant Portal call page ( for any further information. Other changes have been introduced to increase the comprehensibility and readability of the guide. 2

3 Purpose of the Guide This guide provides practical information to potential applicants in preparing and submitting an application for an ERC Advanced Grant. In addition, it provides a general overview on the ERC peer review evaluation process and presents the main features of the ERC grant agreement and the management of ERC grants. The present guide is based on the legal documents setting the rules and conditions for the ERC grant schemes, in particular the ERC Work Programme, the ERC Rules for the submission of proposals and the related evaluation, selection and award procedures relevant to the Ideas Specific Programme, and the ERC Model Grant Agreement. This guide does not supersede the afore-mentioned documents, which are legally binding. The European Commission, the ERC Executive Agency or any person or body acting on their behalf cannot be held responsible for the use made of the guide. The ERC Guide for Applicants for the Advanced Grant call is divided into three parts: 1: Applying for an ERC Advanced Grant 2: Managing ERC grants 3: Annexes The Guide for Applicants may be further modified based on the experiences gained from preceding calls for proposals, on changes applied to the grant schemes and the submission processes. Updated versions of the Guide for Applicants may be published with the publication of the future calls for proposals. For detailed information on the ERC peer review evaluation process, the ERC grant agreement and the management of ERC grants, the following documents are available on the ERC website at o Guide for ERC Peer Reviewers: This guide provides practical information to peer reviewers as well as detailed information on the peer review evaluation and project selection process. o ERC Model Grant Agreement: The grant agreement, which will be concluded between the ERC and the Principal Investigator s Host Institution. A template for the 'Supplementary Agreement' between the Principal Investigator and the Host Institution is available on the ERC website as well. o Guide for ERC Grant Holders: This guide provides practical information to ERC grant holders, whether individual researchers or Host Institutions, on the administration and management of ERC grants, including monitoring and claiming of project costs, the scientific and financial reporting procedure, and the process for making changes to the project. It includes information to applicants that have been offered an ERC grant on the process to prepare the grant agreement and the associated terms and conditions. It is divided into two parts: part 1 is relevant for both the Principal Investigator and his/her Host Institution, whereas part 2 is relevant mainly for the Host Institution's administration. Note: As with other parts of the EU s Seventh Research Framework Programme, National Contact Points (ERC NCPs) have been set up across Europe 1 by the national governments to provide information and personalised support to ERC applicants in their native language. The mission of the ERC NCPs is to raise awareness, inform and advise on ERC funding opportunities as well as to support potential applicants in the preparation, submission and follow-up of ERC grant applications. For details on the ERC NCP in your country please consult the ERC website at 1 This applies to EU Member States and Associated Countries. Some third countries also provide this service. 3

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS PURPOSE OF THE GUIDE... 3 THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL... 6 THE ROLE OF THE ERC SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL... 6 THE ERC EXECUTIVE AGENCY : APPLYING FOR AN ERC ADVANCED GRANT ABOUT THE ERC ADVANCED GRANT FUNDING SCHEME Who can apply for an ERC Advanced Grant? Restrictions on applications Who could be a competitive candidate for the ERC Advanced Grant? The Principal Investigator (PI) Individual Team, Team Members What kind of research can be funded? What is the level of funding of the ERC Advanced Grants? Where can the Principal Investigator run an ERC-funded research activity? Registration of legal entities in the Commission's Early Warning System (EWS) and Central Exclusion Database (CED) PREPARING AND SUBMITTING AN ERC ADVANCED GRANT APPLICATION When can I apply? How can I submit an ERC grant application? EPSS registration EPSS proposal submission How do I complete the grant application? Instructions for completing 'Part A' of the proposal Exclusion of independent experts at request of an applicant Instructions for completing 'Part B' of the proposal Supporting Documentation Is my proposal ready for evaluation? How do I submit the proposal via EPSS? Has my proposal been received by the ERCEA? How do I modify or withdraw a proposal? EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF GRANT PROPOSALS Eligibility Check Peer review evaluation of proposals What are the ERC evaluation panels? Two-step peer review evaluation Ethics review Evaluation criteria Outcome of evaluation Feedback to applicants Redress : MANAGING ERC GRANTS PREPARATION OF A GRANT AGREEMENT FLEXIBILITY WITHIN AN ERC GRANT AGREEMENT Change of scientific strategy and/or objectives Grant portability PROJECT PROGRESS REPORTING Scientific reporting Financial management reporting PAYMENT OF ERC GRANTS PUBLICATION AND EXPLOITATION OF RESULTS Acknowledging ERC support Dissemination, exploitation and IPR FURTHER INFORMATION AND SUPPORT : ANNEXES

5 ANNEX 1: ERC PEER REVIEW EVALUATION PANELS (ERC PANELS) Social Sciences and Humanities Physical Sciences and Engineering Life Sciences ANNEX 2: ETHICAL ISSUES Annex 2a: Specific Information on Ethical Issues Annex 2b: Ethical Issues Table (template) ANNEX 3: COMMITMENT OF THE HOST INSTITUTION ANNEX 4: SECURITY ISSUES Annex 4a: Security Aspects Letter (template) Annex 4b: Security Classification Guide (template)... 74

6 The European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a European funding initiative, designed to support the best scientists, engineers and scholars in Europe. The ERC's mandate is to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding and to support investigator-initiated frontier research across all fields of research, on the basis of scientific excellence. Three types of ERC grants are currently available to support researchers in carrying out frontier research projects: ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant (ERC Starting Grant), ERC Advanced Investigator Grant (ERC Advanced Grant) and ERC Synergy Grant. In addition, ERC grant holders can now apply for additional funding through a Coordination and Support Action ("Proof of Concept") to establish the innovation potential of ideas arising from their ERC-funded frontier research projects. Grants are awarded and managed according to simple procedures that maintain the focus on excellence, encourage creativity and combine flexibility with accountability. The ERC, which is established by the European Commission and funded through the EU s Seventh Research Framework Programme with a budget of EUR 7.51 bn for 7 years (FP7, ), complements other funding schemes in Europe, such as those of research funding agencies operating at the national level and those within the EU s Seventh Research Framework Programme. The ERC consists of a Scientific Council and an Executive Agency. It operates under conditions of autonomy and integrity, guaranteed by the European Commission, to which it is accountable. The role of the ERC Scientific Council The Scientific Council establishes the overall scientific strategy of the ERC, including the annual Work Programme where the calls for proposals and the corresponding funding rules and selection criteria are defined. The Scientific Council establishes and oversees the ERC's scientific management and the implementation of the Work Programme, including the peer review and project selection processes and the selection of peer reviewers. The ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA) The ERC Executive Agency implements the FP7 Specific Programme 'Ideas' and manages ERC operations. It executes the annual Work Programme as established by the Scientific Council, implements calls for proposals and organises peer review evaluation in accordance with methodologies designed by the Scientific Council, and establishes and manages grant agreements. Additionally, it provides information and support to applicants and grant holders.

7 1 : Applying for an ERC Advanced Grant 7

8 1.1 About the ERC Advanced Grant funding scheme ERC Advanced Grants are intended to support the very best research to be conducted in EU Member States 2 and Associated Countries 3. Being highly competitive and awarded on the sole criterion of excellence, without restriction to particular areas of research 4, the grants are aimed to promote substantial advances at the frontiers of knowledge, and to encourage new productive lines of enquiry and new methods and techniques, including unconventional approaches and investigations at the interface between established disciplines. This funding scheme targets researchers who have already established themselves as being independent research leaders in their own right and who would like to pursue frontier research of their choice. The aim is to fund individual teams led by established, innovative and active advanced investigators - called Principal Investigators (PI) in the funding scheme - regardless of nationality, age or current location. The maximum grant amount will be EUR for a maximum period of 5 years. However, in exceptional cases described in point of this guide an additional sum of up to EUR funding can be made available. Box 1: Guiding principles of the ERC Advanced Grant Scientific excellence is the sole selection criterion Projects in all fields of research are eligible for funding Individual research teams led by a single PI are supported Significant funding is provided to attract exceptional research leaders Grants are awarded to the host institution that engages the PI The host institution guarantees the PI s independence and provides the research environment to carry out the project and manage its funding 2 The EU Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom. 3 The Associated Countries are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Faroe Islands, FYR Macedonia, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey. Other countries may become associated during the course of FP7. The latest news will be posted on the CORDIS web site. 4 Research proposals within the scope of Annex I of the EURATOM Treaty directed toward nuclear energy applications should be submitted to relevant calls under the Seventh EURATOM Research Framework Programme (this annex is available at: 8

9 1.1.1 Who can apply for an ERC Advanced Grant? Box 2: ERC Advanced Grant - Eligible Principal Investigators (PI) Principal Investigators applying for an ERC Advanced Grant should be established research leaders who have made original and significant contributions to research. No specific eligibility criteria with respect to their academic requirements are foreseen. The ERC actions are open to researchers of any nationality who intend to establish and conduct their research activity in any Member State or Associated Country. The ERC Advanced Grant Principal Investigator can be of any age and nationality and he/she can reside in any country in the world at the time of the application Restrictions on applications As established in the 2012 "Ideas" Work Programme 5 there are restrictions on submission of proposals. The relevant provisions applicable to Advanced Grants 2012 are: A Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator 6 may hold only one grant from the ERC at any one time; A Principal Investigator may submit only one proposal to the ERC per calendar year ; A Principal Investigator who holds an ERC grant cannot submit a proposal for the ERC Synergy Grant unless that grant expires before 15 November 2013; A Principal Investigator who has submitted an eligible proposal to a 2011 ERC call may not apply to a 2012 ERC call for the same type of grant, unless his/her proposal was evaluated above the quality threshold at the end of step 1 ; A Principal Investigator who is a serving Panel Member for a 2012 ERC call or who served as a Panel Member for a 2010 ERC call may not apply to a 2012 ERC call for the same type of grant. For more information on the subject, please see 2012 "Ideas" Work Programme - section 3.2 for the current restrictions on application rules. IMPORTANT NOTICE: These rules must be taken very seriously into account by the potential applicants. Proposals which do not comply with these rules during the submission of a proposal will be brought to the attention of the ERC eligibility review committee which will assess and decide on the eligibility of the proposal. 5 The title in full: The IDEAS Work Programme, European Research Council Work Programme Co-Investigator projects were supported under the Ideas Work Programmes from

10 1.1.2 Who could be a competitive candidate for the ERC Advanced Grant? The Principal Investigator (PI) ERC grants support projects which are carried out by individual research teams 7 headed by a single Principal Investigator (PI) of any nationality and, if necessary, include additional team members. These teams may be of national or trans-national character. With the focus on the PI, the concept of individual team is fundamentally different from that of a traditional 'network' or 'research consortium'; proposals of the latter type should not be submitted to the ERC. The PI does not necessarily need to be employed by the Host Institution at the time when the proposal is submitted. If not already employed by the Host Institution, the PI must be engaged by the latter at least for the duration of the grant. ERC-funded PIs must be strongly committed to the project and devote a significant amount of time to it. In the case of the Advanced Grant PIs should devote at least 30% of their working time to the ERC-funded project while spending at least 50% of their total working time in Europe (EU Member State or Associated Country). 8 With the support of the Host Institution, successful PIs will be expected to lead their individual teams and be fully engaged in the running of the ERC grant. Applicants for the ERC Advanced Grant are expected to be active researchers and to have a track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years which must be presented in the application. There is little prospect of an application succeeding in the absence of such a record, which identifies investigators as exceptional leaders in terms of originality and significance of their research contributions. Thus, in most fields, PIs of Advanced Grant proposals will be expected to demonstrate a record of achievements appropriate to the field and at least matching one or more of the following benchmarks: Normally 10 publications as senior author (or in those fields where alphabetic order of authorship is the norm, joint author) in major international peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journals, and/or in the leading international peer-reviewed journals of their respective field. Normally 3 major research monographs, of which at least one is translated into another language. This benchmark is relevant to research fields where publication of monographs is the norm (e.g. humanities and social sciences). Other alternative benchmarks that may be considered (individually or in combination) as indicative of an exceptional record and recognition in the last 10 years: Normally 5 granted patents. Normally 10 invited presentations in well-established internationally organised conferences and advanced schools. Normally 3 research expeditions led by the applicant. 7 In certain fields (e.g. in the humanities and mathematics), research is often performed individually, aside from guiding research students. The term 'team' is therefore used in the broadest sense. It includes cases where an individual works independently. 8 A specification about the PI's commitment should be provided in Part B section 1 and 2. 10

11 Normally 3 well-established international conferences or congresses where the applicant was involved in their organisation as a member of the steering and/or organising committee. International recognition through scientific prizes/awards or membership in well-regarded academies. Applicants are encouraged to evaluate their track-record and leadership profile against the above benchmarks that have been adopted by the Scientific Council, in order to decide for themselves their likelihood for success, to avoid investing effort in proposals that are very unlikely to succeed Individual Team, Team Members The composition of the individual research team is flexible. Commonly, it involves other researchers - such as senior researchers, post docs, graduate students and PhD researchers - from the PI's research group or from the same institution as 'team members'. However, depending on the nature of a project the research team may also involve team members from other research institutions situated in the same or a different country. Therefore, research teams can be of national or trans-national character. Team members can be of any age, nationality and country of residence. Team members operate under the leadership of the PI. Although mono-beneficiary proposals are preferred, team members may be hosted by other institutions that can be located in any country, including third countries 9. Their participation (and possible funding to support the work of the respective team members) is subject to appraisal by the ERC peer review evaluation panels, which assess whether their involvement is properly justified and essential in terms of scientific competence and capacities What kind of research can be funded? ERC grants aim to support 'Frontier Research', in other words the pursuit of questions at or beyond the frontiers of knowledge, without regard to established disciplinary boundaries. Applications may be made in any field of research covered by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union including physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, and social sciences and humanities. Please note that research proposals within the scope of Annex I to the Euratom Treaty, namely those directed towards nuclear energy applications should be submitted to relevant calls under the Euratom 7th Framework Programme 10. In particular, proposals of a multi- or interdisciplinary nature which cross the boundaries between different fields of research, pioneering proposals addressing new and emerging fields of research or proposals introducing unconventional, innovative approaches and scientific inventions are encouraged, as long as the expected impact on science, scholarship or engineering is significant. The peer review evaluation of proposals will therefore give emphasis to these aspects, in full understanding that such research has a high-gain/high-risk profile, i.e. if successful the payoffs 9 Third countries are neither EU Member States nor Associated Countries. 10 Research proposals within the scope of Annex I of the EURATOM Treaty directed toward nuclear energy applications should be submitted to relevant calls under the Seventh EURATOM Research Framework Programme (this annex is available at: 11

12 will be very significant, but there is a higher-than-normal risk that the research project does not entirely fulfil its aims. Some frontier research activities and methodologies may have ethical implications or may raise questions which will require sound ethical assessment in order to ensure that research supported by an ERC grant respects the fundamental ethical principles (see Box 3 and Annex 2 to this Guide). Box 3: Dealing with ethical issues Fundamental ethical principles must be respected, including those reflected in the Charter* of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. These principles include the need to ensure the freedom of research and the need to protect the physical and moral integrity of individuals and the welfare of animals. The opinions of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE)** are and will be taken into account. Furthermore, due account should be taken of the Protocol*** on the Protection and Welfare of Animals, to reduce the use of animals in research and testing (with a view to ultimately replacing animal use), to involve animals with the lowest degree of neuropsychological sensitivity, and to cause the least pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm. Applicants should indicate whether the proposed research raises sensitive ethical questions such as research involving human beings, human biological samples, personal data, genetic information or animals****. According to Article 6 of the FP7 Decision and Article 3 of the Specific Programme Ideas, the following activities cannot be funded: research activities aiming at human cloning for reproductive purposes; research activities intended to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable; research activities intended to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer. As regards human embryonic stem cell research, the ERC is bound by the European Commission s commitment to follow the practice of the EU s Sixth Research Framework Programme (see OJ L 412 of , p. 42) and exclude from financial support any research activities destroying human embryos, including for the procurement of stem cells. The exclusion of funding of this step of research will not prevent ERC funding of subsequent steps involving human embryonic stem cells. Applicants must ensure that the research proposed respects all national rules and procedures of the relevant country where the proposed research is conducted. Where necessary, approval must be sought from the relevant national or local ethics committee prior to the start of the project. * see ** see *** see **** a dedicated website that aims to provide helpful information on ethical issues is available at: 12

13 Additionally, as established in the ERC Rules for submission- Annex D 11, ERC actions addressing security-sensitive subjects need to be identified and scrutinised according to the applicable legislation (see Box 4 and Annex 4). Box 4: Scrutiny of security sensitive ERC actions ERC grants addressing security-sensitive subjects must undergo a security scrutiny procedure. In order to ensure this, any successful ERC proposal will be scrutinised for security aspects prior to granting. A security 'sensitive' proposal is a proposal for an action that may need to handle classified information. Proposals submitted to ERC calls must not contain any classified information. However, it is possible that the output of an action ('Foreground') needs to be classified, or that classified inputs ('Background') are required. In addition, a proposal may also be considered as sensitive if it is planned to exchange material which is subject to transfer or export licensing. The first step of this scrutiny (security scrutiny clearance) will be carried out by ERCEA staff, who will identify all proposals that clearly have no associated security issues and which therefore should proceed with granting immediately. The remaining proposals (i.e. those that clearly are or that may be security-sensitive) will be scrutinised, according to legislation, by a 'Security Scrutiny Committee'. This committee consists of representatives of national security authorities, supported, if appropriate, by representatives of the relevant members of the Programme Committees. The scrutiny will be carried out by Committee members of the same country(ies) as that of the prospective grant beneficiaries (i.e. the host organisation and other organisations involved in the proposal). The outcome of the scrutiny process results in a recommendation of the committee: That no EU classification is needed; That an EU classification at some level is needed (references); That the proposal is too sensitive to be financed. During the subsequent granting process, ERCEA will put in place the recommendations of the committee. 11 See ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/erc-evrules_en.pdf 13

14 1.1.4 What is the level of funding of the ERC Advanced Grants? As indicated in the 2012 "Ideas" Work Programme section 5.3, the maximum grant will be EUR for a period of 5 years (pro rata for projects of shorter duration). However, an additional amount of up to EUR can be made available to cover (a) eligible startup costs for Principal Investigators moving from a third country to the EU or an Associated Country 12 as a consequence of receiving the ERC grant or (b) the purchase of major equipment. The total requested grant should reflect a realistic estimation of the project needs and should not be unnecessarily inflated to reach the maximum grant level. The evaluation panels will review the requested grant and recommend the total amount to be granted on the basis of the needs of the project, using rounded figures. The panels may also suggest a modification to the indicative budgetary breakdown in the application but the PIs have the freedom to rebudget during the course of the project. An ERC grant can cover up to 100% of the total eligible and approved direct costs of the research plus a flat-rate financing of indirect costs on the basis of 20% of the total eligible direct costs (excluding the direct eligible costs for subcontracting and the costs of resources made available by third parties which are not used on the premises of the Host Institution). The costs which can be covered by an ERC grant are described in Box 5. Please note that the above-mentioned limits include indirect costs. The level of the grant represents a maximum overall figure payments must be justified on the basis of the amounts actually disbursed for the project. The resources requested should be reasonable and fully justified in the proposal (part B section 2). If additional funding (above the normal EUR and up to an additional amount of EUR ) is requested for covering the "start-up" costs for Principal Investigators moving from one third country to the EU or an Associated Country as a consequence of receiving the ERC grant and/or purchase of major equipment then this also needs to be justified in Part B Section 2c. Project costs covered by third parties are allowed but need to be declared, and will be deducted from the total of eligible costs covered by the ERC grant. Nevertheless, ERC grants are expected to be significant and cover a major part of the project and its costs. Thus, ERC funding aims neither at topping up the funding of running projects, nor providing a means for co-funding. Applicants should specify any current research grants and their subject in the 'funding ID' included in part B1 section 1a. The actual project costs claimed should be presented in line with the usual management practices and accounting rules of the Host Institution and the other additional beneficiary(ies). 12 However, it goes without saying that the additional funding can only be granted if the reason to move from a third country to the EU or an Associated Country is exclusively linked with the AdG. No preceding appointment by, or move to, the potential HI before the awarding of the grant can therefore give rise to such an additional financial assistance. 14

15 Box 5: Eligible and non-eligible direct and indirect costs Direct eligible costs are those which support all the research, management, training and dissemination activities necessary for the project, such as: Personnel Costs; Equipment Costs; Consumables; Travel and Subsistence Costs; Publication Costs (page charges and related fees for publication of results). Indirect eligible costs are those which cannot be identified as directly attributable to the project, but which are incurred in direct relationship with the project's direct eligible costs, such as: Costs related to general administration and management; Costs of office or laboratory space, including rent or depreciation of buildings and equipment, and related expenditure such as water, heating, electricity; Maintenance, insurance and safety costs; Communication expenses, network connection charges, postal charges and office supplies; Common office equipment such as PCs, laptops, office software; Miscellaneous recurring consumables. Non-eligible costs can not be reimbursed through the ERC grant, in particular: Any identifiable indirect taxes, including VAT or duties; Interest owed; Provisions for possible future losses or charges; Exchange losses; Costs declared, incurred or reimbursed in respect of another EU funded project; Costs related to return on capital; Debt and debt service charges; Excessive or reckless expenditure. More detailed information and documentation is provided in the Guide to Financial Issues relating to FP7 Indirect Actions: Where can the Principal Investigator run an ERC-funded research activity? The project must be carried out in the EU Member States 2 or the Associated Countries 3. This does not exclude field work or other research activities in cases where these must necessarily be conducted outside the EU Member States or the Associated Countries in order to achieve the scientific objectives of the project or activity. An ERC grant is awarded to the applicant's legal entity - the Host Institution - that engages and hosts the PI for at least the duration of the grant. The Host Institution must provide a commitment letter offering appropriate conditions for the PI to direct independently the proposed research and manage its funding for the duration of the project (see Annex 3 to this Guide). These conditions, including the 'portability' of the project, are the subject of an agreement between the PI and the Host Institution (supplementary to the ERC Grant Agreement) and are described in the ERC Model Grant Agreement 13. The ERC Grant 13 Available on the ERC website at and published in the Official Journal of the EU, C (2007)1625,

16 Agreement itself will be concluded between the ERCEA and the Host Institution, the latter becoming thereby the beneficiary of the ERC grant. The Host Institution must be established under the law of one of the EU Member States, or one of the Associated Countries. It may also be an International European Interest Organisation 14 or the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. It is also expected that the Host Institution will be the only participating legal entity. However, additional team members may be hosted by additional legal entities. In the case of team members, these additional legal entities which will be eligible for funding may be established anywhere, including outside the European Union or Associated Countries. It is a condition for all ERC funding that the Host Institution commits to the following conditions of independence 15, ensuring that the PI may: apply for funding independently; manage the research and the funding for the project and make appropriate resource allocation decisions; publish independently as senior author and invite as co-authors only those who have contributed substantially to the reported work; supervise team members, including research students, doctoral students or others; have access to reasonable space and facilities for conducting the research. The Host Institution can be any legal entity (public or private), which has the infrastructure and capacity to carry out a frontier research project, such as a university, a research organisation or a research-performing company. Research-performing companies can host a PI as long as the PI's independence is not constrained by the research strategy of the company Registration of legal entities in the Commission's Early Warning System (EWS) and Central Exclusion Database (CED) To protect the EU's financial interests, the Commission uses an internal information tool, the Early Warning System (EWS) to flag identified risks related to beneficiaries of centrally managed contracts and grants. Through systematic registration of financial and other risks the EWS enables the Commission services to take the necessary precautionary measures to ensure a sound financial management 16. EWS registrations are not publicly disclosed. However, registrations will be transferred to the Central Exclusion Database (CED) if they relate to entities that have been excluded from EU funding because they are insolvent or have been convicted of a serious professional misconduct or criminal offence detrimental to EU financial interests. The data in CED are available to all public authorities implementing EU funds, i.e. European institutions, 14 Such as: CERN, EMBL, ESA, ESO, ESRF, ILL. 15 Note that the conditions of independence provided to the PI and his/her team are consistent with 'The European Charter for Researchers and The Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers', C(2005)576, The EWS covers situations such as significantly overdue recovery orders, judicial proceedings pending for serious administrative errors/fraud, findings of serious administrative errors/fraud, legal situations which exclude the beneficiary from funding. 16

17 national agencies or authorities in Member States, and, subject to conditions for personal data protection, to third countries and international organisations. The Work Programme informs you that the details of your organisation (or those of a person who has powers of representation, decision-making or control over it) may be registered in the EWS and the CED and be shared with public authorities as described in the relevant legal texts 17. More information on the EWS and CED can be found here: Preparing and submitting an ERC Advanced Grant application 18 An ERC grant application should be submitted by a single Principal Investigator, who has the scientific responsibility for the project in conjunction with and on behalf of the Host Institution which is the applicant legal entity. Grant applications are assessed by peer review evaluation panels (ERC panels), which may be supported by additional remote reviewers. These ERC panels assess, score and rank the proposals When can I apply? ERC grant applications can be submitted only in response to a 'call for proposals'. Calls announced in the 2012 "Ideas" Work Programme are published on the ERC website 19, the Research & Innovation Participant Portal 20 and in the Official Journal of the European Union 21. The ERC publishes annual calls for proposals for the ERC Advanced Grant scheme. The provisional timing of these calls for proposals is indicated in the table below. It is expected that the call budgets will be gradually increased each year. 17 The basis for registrations in EWS and CED is laid out in: - the Commission Decision of on the Early Warning System (EWS) for the use of authorising officers of the Commission and the executive agencies (OJ, L 344, , p. 125), and - the Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1302/2008 of on the Central Exclusion Database CED (OJ L 344, , p. 12). 18 The working language of the ERC evaluation panels is English. Please note that accordingly the panel reports will be available in English only. If the proposal is not in English, a translation of the full proposal would be of assistance to the experts. An English translation of the abstract must be included in the proposal

18 ERC Advanced Grant Call Provisional Schedule 2012 Call open Call Deadline Evaluation ERC-2012-AdG Autumn 2011 Spring 2012 Spring Autumn 2012 The foreseen date of publication of the next call for Advanced Grant proposals, ERC AdG call, is 16 November The foreseen electronic proposal submission deadlines (single submission of full proposals) for the three scientific domains are: Panels PE1 - PE10 (Physical Sciences & Engineering): 16 February (Brussels local time) Panels LS1 LS9 (Life Sciences): 14 March (Brussels local time) Panels SH1 SH6 (Social Sciences & Humanities): 11 April (Brussels local time) How can I submit an ERC grant application? The key features of the ERC Grant application procedure are highlighted in Box 6. Box 6: Key features of the ERC grant application procedure Applications should be submitted by a single PI in conjunction with and on behalf of her/his host institution (the applicant legal entity). A proposal consists of administrative forms (Part A), a research proposal (Part B section 1 and 2) and supporting documentation. Proposal formats and page numbers are strictly limited. Submission of all the documents is accepted only via the web-based Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS). The application procedure consists of a single submission stage. Strict rules apply for restrictions on submission of proposals that must be checked before applying for a grant EPSS registration Proposals must be submitted electronically via the web-based Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS) In exceptional cases, if an applicant has absolutely no means of accessing the EPSS and if it is impossible to arrange to do so, he/she may request permission from the ERCEA to submit on paper. Such a request, which must clearly explain the circumstances of the case, must be received by the ERCEA no later than one month before the call deadline. The ERCEA will reply to such a request within five working days of receipt. If derogation is granted, the ERCEA will send proposal forms for paper submission to the applicant concerned. Such a request should be sent to the following address: 18

19 PIs first need to register their intention to submit a proposal via the web-based EPSS in order to receive a login name and password and thus get access to EPSS for preparing, uploading and submitting a proposal. This should be done as early as possible before the call deadline for the submission of proposals. EPSS can be accessed via the ERC website 23 and the calls' pages on Research & Innovation Participant Portal 24, or directly at Full instructions can be found in the 'EPSS preparation and submission guide' available on the EPSS welcome page. Please note that some web-browsers and/or Operating Systems (OS) may not be supported by EPSS, for further information please consult the 'EPSS preparation and submission guide' mentioned above. Please consult regularly the Participant Portal or CORDIS for updated information or contact the EPSS HELPDESK by support@epss-fp7.org, or by phone EPSS proposal submission Following registration and agreement to the conditions of use of EPSS, the application can be prepared, uploaded and submitted via EPSS. Further information on the preparation of the application (Parts A and B) is given in point of this guide. Completing the Part A forms in EPSS and uploading a Part B does not yet mean that your proposal is submitted. Once there is a consolidated version of the proposal, you must press the button SUBMIT NOW (If you don't see the button SUBMIT NOW, first select the SUBMIT tag at the top of the screen). Please note that SUBMIT NOW starts the final steps for submission; it does not in itself cause the proposal to be submitted. After reading the information page that then appears, it is possible to submit the proposal using the button marked Press this button to submit the proposal. EPSS then performs an automatic validation of the proposal by carrying out a number of basic verification checks. A list of any problems ( validation error message ) such as missing data, viruses, wrong file format or excessive file size will then appear on the screen. Submission is blocked until these problems are corrected. Once corrected, the applicant must then repeat the above steps to achieve submission. Only upon completion of these basic verification checks EPSS allows the applicant to submit. However, these checks do not replace the formal eligibility checks described in point and cannot assure that the contents of the proposal and of the uploaded files correspond to the requirements of the call. Once the proposal is submitted, the applicant receives a message that indicates that the proposal has been received. This automatic message is not the official European Commission, European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA)/ Unit B 3, COV2 21/126, 1049 Brussels, Belgium. 23 ERC: European Research Council - Grants/Submit an ERC Grant Proposal: Irrespective of the sections/subsections page limits specified in point , there is an overall limit of 10 MB to the size of the PDF proposal file. There are also restrictions to the file name you give to the PDF proposal - use alphanumeric characters only. Special characters and spaces must be avoided. 19

20 acknowledgement of receipt (see point : "Has my proposal been received by the ERCEA?"). The applicant may continue to modify the proposal and submit revised versions overwriting the previous one right up until the deadline. The sequence above must be repeated each time (see also below point : "How do I modify or withdraw my proposal?"). If the submission sequence described above is not followed at least once, the ERCEA considers that no proposal has been submitted. The research proposal and attached supporting documentation must exclusively use PDF ('Portable Document Format', compatible with Adobe version 3 or higher, with embedded fonts) 25. Other file formats will not be accepted by the system. Unless specified in the call, embedded material and any other documents (company brochures, scientific papers, reports, audio, video, multimedia, etc.) sent electronically or by post, will be disregarded. However, panel members and/or referees may (but are not obliged to) access relevant web pages (that the PI may refer to in Part B Section 1) in order to further assess the applicants' previous work (including openly accessible published manuscripts of the applicant). Proposals must be submitted before the deadline specified in the call for proposals 26. EPSS will be closed for a specific call at its call deadline. After this moment, it will be impossible to access EPSS for the respective call. Early registration and submission in EPSS is strongly recommended and should be done as early as possible in advance of the call deadline. Applicants, who wait until too near to the closure of the call to start uploading their proposal, take a serious risk that the uploading will not be concluded in time and thus the SUBMIT NOW button will not be active anymore in order to conclude the submission process How do I complete the grant application? A complete ERC Advanced Grant application involves the following three separate components: o The administrative forms (Part A) o The research proposal (Part B) o The supporting documentation 26 In the unlikely event of a failure of the EPSS service due to a breakdown of the EPSS server during the last 24 hours of a call, the deadline will be extended by a further 24 hours. This will be notified by to all applicants who had registered in EPSS for this call, and also by a notice on the call page on the ERC website ( and on Participant Portal ( as well as on the website of EPSS. Such a failure is a rare and exceptional event. Therefore, it should not be assumed that there will be such an extension of a call. If an applicant encounters difficulties in submitting a proposal, it should not be assumed that it is because of a problem with the EPSS server. For technical inquiries on the use of EPSS, please contact the EPSS helpdesk (see point of this guide). Please note that the ERC will not extend deadlines for system failures that are not its own responsibility. In all circumstances, you should aim to submit your proposal well before the deadline to have time to solve any problems. 20

21 Instructions for completing 'Part A' of the proposal Proposals must be submitted electronically via the web-based Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS) (see section of this guide). In the A forms, the PI will be asked for administrative data that will be used in the evaluation and further processing of the proposal. The A forms are an integral part of the proposal. 27 Part A: section A1 gives a snapshot of the proposal and of the PI, section A2 concerns the PI's Host Institution, while section A3 deals with financial matters. Please note: Section A1 concerns information about the research proposal and the PI, including a non confidential abstract of the proposal and the chosen ERC panel for evaluation. The PI must indicate the most relevant ERC panel for the evaluation of the proposal and choose one or more descriptors (i.e. ERC keywords) of the research fields involved from a dropdown menu (see Annex 1 to this Guide). It is the PI's responsibility to choose the most relevant ERC panel ('primary evaluation panel') for the evaluation of the proposed research. The initial allocation of the proposals to the various panels will be based on the expressed preference of the PI. In the case of interdisciplinary proposals the PI may indicate a secondary evaluation panel. The primary panel will then decide whether the proposal is indeed cross-panel or crossdomain and if its evaluation requires expertise from other panels. Despite the initial allocation based on the preference of the PI, if necessary due to the expertise required for the evaluation, a proposal may be reallocated to a different panel at the beginning of the peer review evaluation. Section A2 concerns information about the PI's Host Institution 28. Subcontractors are not required to fill in section A2 and should not be listed separately in section A3. Section A3 concerns information about the estimated project costs and grant required. Please ensure that all costs are given in whole Euros (integer), not thousands of Euros, and must exclude value added tax (VAT). Please ensure that the amount given in the financial section A3 corresponds precisely to the information provided in the research proposal text (Part B Section 2c (B2), Resources). In case of discrepancy, the A3 data will prevail. Participant Identification Code (PIC) Those who are familiar with the proposal submission and grant preparation forms know that in the past, participants had to provide to the European Commission their legal and financial information every time they submitted a proposal or negotiated a contract. To eliminate these redundant requests for information, we invite you to register your organisational data once in the Unique Registration Facility (URF) which is hosted in the Participant Portal,29. This selfregistration will lead to a request by the European Commission for the organisation to 27 Details of the scientific project itself which the applicant intends to carry out will be described in the research proposal, Part B Section1 (B1) and Section2 (B2). 28 The filling of additional A2 forms, corresponding to other institutions of team members ('additional participants'), may be necessary. 29 For participants not yet having a Participant Identification Code (PIC), i.e. not yet being registered and validated in the Commission's Unique Registration Facility (URF) their existence as legal entities and their legal status will have to be validated before a grant agreement can be signed. 21